Social engineering

Perhaps one of the most notable changes which has occurred in society in modern times is the erosion of class divisions, and a recent appeal case offers some insight into how our environment has been deployed to drive this change (DCS Number 200-008-064).

In this case an inspector refused to sanction the removal of a secondary staircase from a listed terrace house in central London. He considered that the terrace exhibited Arts and Crafts influences, noting that part of the ethos of the Arts and Crafts approach “involved the attempt to break down social and class barriers through the reintegration of aesthetic and craftsmanship in order to address the dehumanizing effect that the division of labour was considered to have created.”

It was apparent from the design, the inspector observed, that the architect was forcing interaction between servants and occupiers as only some floors were accessible from the secondary stairs; servants would have needed to use the main stairs in order to service rooms that the secondary staircase did not open out onto. At the same time, he reasoned, the choice of stone over timber for the secondary stair and its cantilevered construction appeared quite extravagant for stairs which were traditionally used by servants and kept out of sight. He concurred with the council that this pointed to attempts by the architects to erode the servant/master distinction prevalent in the pre-First World War period.

The inspector held that the significance of the staircase, and its contribution to the significance of the listed building as a whole, lay in part in the fact that it acted as a lens through which occupiers and visitors to the building could appreciate the social structures of Edwardian England prior to the outbreak of the world war which acted as a catalyst for much social change, and the underlying long term social trends which the war itself magnified into the 1920s and beyond. He decided that the loss of the staircase would reduce the ability of future generations to understand the importance of the secondary stairs within the heritage asset and how this contributed to the significance of the listed building. As such its removal would have a negative impact and would fail to preserve the special interest of the listed building, he concluded.

Further appeal cases involving the removal of staircases from listed buildings can be found at section 27.2333 of DCP Online.

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The government's Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which sets the policy framework for the expansion of Heathrow airport, should be "set aside and reconsidered" if it is found to be legally flawed, the High Court has been told on the first day of a legal challenge against the airport's expansion.

Plans have been approved for 1,500 homes on an employment site in Salford Quays, including a tower of up to 46 storeys, after officers concluded the development would not compromise neighbouring employment uses.

Plans have been approved for a mixed-use scheme with over 1,100 homes on a site currently used as a retail park off London's Old Kent Road, after planners concluded that the scheme's negative impacts, including the loss of retail space, would be compensated for by "major regeneration benefits".

The government has said it will "robustly defend" itself against a legal challenge which is seeking to have the approval for the expansion of Heathrow airport sent back to Parliament for reconsideration, as the case opens at the High Court today.

The High Court has upheld an inspector's ruling that the size of an area of hard-standing at a fencing company's yard in Surrey was so far in excess of what was required by a building on the site as to render it not ancillary to the building.